Wisconsin native, conservative critic of everything.
"Once abolish the God, and the government becomes the God." ---G K Chesterton
"The only objective of Liberty is Life" --G K Chesterton
"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions" --G K Chesterton
"A man can never have too much red wine, too many books, or too much ammunition." -- Rudyard Kipling

12 comments:

Old and nasty, Dad29 . . . are you endorsing the burning of children in their beds? I assume you either have children or have children in your extended or immediate family. Can you imagine watching them cry and scream as they burn alive?

There's another way to defend life, a way that doesn't include burning children to ash.

The BC thought that the danger of burning down a civilian's house was a greater risk than not firing the illumination round. You obviously disagree. But I wonder if you are sincere enough to accept the consequences of your thinking - the burning of innocent children in their beds for "military necessity".

I received the finest training any soldier can receive - as a forward observer with the 75th Ranger Regiment, 3rd Battalion, C-Co. As I recall, everyone, from Private to Master Sergeant, had a lot of fun calling in white phosphorus rounds. We knew that you could only use such rounds on equipment. So we made sure to call our fire in on "equipment, attached to women and children fleeing in the distance".

Military necessity, for men on that ground waging war, almost always takes precedence over civilian life. No amount of regulations or REMF commands will change that. Hence, over 90% of those who die in modern war are innocent civilians.

Dad29, your personal insults and judgments are not only incorrect (you don't know me), but conveys to me a sense of spite and bitterness. If you went to mass today, you'll know that Saint Paul taught us to put away all bitterness, all fury, all anger, and to replace it with compassion.

I've only made the simple point that soldiers on the ground have one primary purpose - to kill and destroy the enemy - and that this purpose leads to high civilian casualties unless tempered by stringent and well-enforced rules of engagement. Yes, there is always risk in military engagements, but Americans are different than terrorists because we risk our own lives rather than risking the lives of civilians.

Moreover, strategic concerns about civilian casualties take precedence over tactical concerns of minor military operations - especially in counter-insurgencies. Wars are won through willpower, not through firepower.